Attack at Turkish government building wounds 3

Kurdish militants attacked a government building in southeast Turkey on Thursday, wounding at least three people including a district governor, officials say.

The state-run Anadolu Agency says the office of the district governor in the town of Derik, near the border with Syria, was attacked with rocket launchers. But a subsequent statement by the regional governor’s office says an improvised explosive device was used. It didn’t elaborate.

The district governor, Fatih Safiturk, was wounded in the attack, officials say. There is no immediate official information on his condition, but Haber Turk television station said he was slightly wounded.

Anadolu says the attack was carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its Western allies. Kurdish militants, however, haven’t immediately claimed responsibility.

Turkey explosion: Blast heard near Governor's office in Mardin: https://t.co/bycoV7GMTL

— News Bharati (@eNewsBharati) November 10, 2016

The security forces launched an operation to catch the assailants, the agency said, without providing details.

A fragile peace process between the government and the PKK broke down last year, leading to renewed violence in Turkey’s mainly-Kurdish southeast region. At least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.

Turkey has been rocked by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, carried out by the PKK or Islamic State group extremists.

— AP